"BUT MR STAFFORD SAID HE HOPED A COLD CASE REVIEW INTO LEANNE'S DEATH WOULD BE LAUNCHED BEFORE ANY COMPENSATION CLAIMS WERE MADE.
"WE HAD HOPED THAT EVERYTHING ELSE WOULD BE PUT IN ORDER BEFORE A COMPENSATION CLAIM IS PLACED AND I STILL HOPE EVERYTHING ELSE IS IN ORDER BEFORE THAT HAPPENS," HE SAID.
"BUT IF NOT, SOMEONE OF [MR LAKSHMAN'S] CALIBRE COMING OUT AND SAYING HE HAD DEEP RESERVATIONS ABOUT IT FROM THE GET-GO HAS GOT TO RAISE A FEW EYEBROWS."
MR STAFFORD SAID HE WISHED MR LAKSHMAN HAD COME OUT WITH HIS CONCERNS ABOUT THE CASE EARLIER.
"GIVEN [MR LAKSHMAN] HAD DEEP RESERVATIONS ABOUT IT, IT MAY HAVE GIVEN US THE IMPETUS TO HAVE SOMEONE TAKE A MUCH CLOSER LOOK AT IT," HE SAID."
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BACKGROUND: (WIKIPEDIA): Graham Stuart Stafford was a sheet metal worker from Goodna, near Ipswich, Queensland who was convicted in 1992 of the murder of twelve-year-old Leanne Sarah Holland. Leanne Holland, the younger sister of Stafford's former partner, Melissa Holland, was murdered in September 1991. Her viciously mutilated body was found three days after she was reported missing in nearby Redbank Plains. It is possible she was also sexually interfered with and tortured with a cigarette lighter. Stafford appealed to the Queensland Court of Appeal, but this appeal was rejected on 25 August 1992. In 1997, the Queensland Court of Appeal re-examined the case after Stafford lodged an application for pardon with the State Governor on the basis of evidence gathered by private detective, Graeme Crowley. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal again by a two-to-one majority on the grounds that there was still enough evidence to convict. Two applications for special leave to the High Court of Australia subsequently failed. Stafford was released in June 2006 after serving over 14 years in prison. Stafford, who was born in England and does not have Australian citizenship despite having migrated to Australia in 1969, faced deportation in November 2006. Some people, including Professor Paul Wilson of Bond University believe that Stafford is a victim of a miscarriage of justice. The Queensland Attorney-General, Kerry Shine, has agreed to closely consider any request on Stafford's behalf concerning a petition to clear him of the murder conviction. In April 2008, the Queensland Attorney-General referred the case to the Court of Appeal for a very rare second appeal for pardon. On December 24, 2009 the Court of Appeal overturned Graham Stafford's conviction and ordered a retrial by a 2-1 majority. The dissenting judge wanted an immediate acquittal...WIKIPEDIA informs us that: "A Brisbane Sunday Mail examination of the police investigation revealed that an Ipswich computer store worker provided information to the police about a man who had entered the store on the same day as Leanne's body was dumped in nearby bushland. The worker claimed that the man had been behaving in a peculiar manner and had blood stains on his hands and trousers when he entered the store. Furthermore, reports of Leanne having been seen alive on the day after the police allege she was murdered were ignored. A report of a vehicle other than Stafford's being sighted near the body was also ignored. Forensic scientist, Angela van Daal, gave evidence at trial that helped convict Stafford of the murder. She has since stated that the blood identified as Leanne's could have come from another family member. Although the frequency of the blood type matching anyone in the general population was only about one percent, the frequency among relatives is as high as 25 percent. Around the time of the murder, Leanne's brother Craig had slashed his hand in a pub fight and had bled freely in the family home. It has also been revealed that another twelve-year-old girl was murdered less than one kilometre away from where Leanne Holland lived within thirteen days of Leanne's murder. The man who was charged with the second murder had been known to Leanne. Furthermore, daughters of a police informant in the Leanne Holland case have come forward claiming their father sexually abused them at the murder site, burnt them with cigarette lighters and showed them crime scene photographs of Leanne's body."
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"Revelations that one of Queensland's most senior crown prosecutors declined to prosecute Graham Stafford could assist his compensation claim against his jail sentence, a legal expert said last night," the April 28, 2010 Brisbane Times story by reporter Cameron Atfield begins, under the heading, "Revelations may help Stafford compo bid."
"Mr Stafford served nearly 15 years for the September 1991 rape and murder of 12-year-old Goodna schoolgirl Leanne Holland, but his conviction was quashed on Christmas Eve last year," the story continues.
"Yesterday, The Australian newspaper reported that crown prosecutor Vishal Lakshman declined to prosecute the trial in 1992 because he was unconvinced of Mr Stafford's guilt.
brisbanetimes.com.au understands the claim, which would be delivered to Queensland Attorney-General Cameron Dick, is in the process of being formulated by Mr Stafford's legal team.
Bond University professor of law Eric Colvin said the revelation could help in Mr Stafford's compensation claim.
"In a compensation claim, there are no legal criteria, it's an ex gratia payment if it's awarded, and really any relevant information might be taken into account," he said.
"On a compensation claim it might be that they might wish to draw attention to this in the sense of suggesting the original decision to prosecute was ill-advised and, in a compensation claim, there's no reason why that couldn't be taken into account by the government."
Mr Stafford told brisbanetimes.com.au he thought the revelations would strengthen his compensation claim.
But Mr Stafford said he hoped a cold case review into Leanne's death would be launched before any compensation claims were made.
"We had hoped that everything else would be put in order before a compensation claim is placed and I still hope everything else is in order before that happens," he said.
"But if not, someone of [Mr Lakshman's] calibre coming out and saying he had deep reservations about it from the get-go has got to raise a few eyebrows."
Mr Stafford said he wished Mr Lakshman had come out with his concerns about the case earlier.
"Given [Mr Lakshman] had deep reservations about it, it may have given us the impetus to have someone take a much closer look at it," he said.
"That would have been enough for one of the judges to say `gee, we have to look at this one more closely'."
But Professor Colvin said it would have been unlikely to assist Mr Stafford's trial defence, or his appeal.
"The fact that particular prosecutor took that particular view is of no legal significance at all - the considerations that lay behind the view expressed by that prosecutor would be the relevant thing on the appeal," he said.
"I don't think it could have helped if that information was in the public arena - it's interesting and fascinating information, but it's not information that would be of any legal significance."
Bond University criminologist Paul Wilson said compensation should be a given for Mr Stafford.
"It would be appalling if the state government does not compensate him for the nearly 15 years he spent in jail," he said.
"The Queensland Government have been very reluctant to pay compensation in these types of cases in the past and it would be the most mean-spirited move if they did that in this case."
Professor Wilson said a Royal Commission needed to be set up to get to the bottom of the case once and for all.
He said the relationships between investigating officers and a police informant, whose daughter last month suggested may have been Leanne's killer, had to be examined.
"These are Fitzgerald-type questions, they're not minor questions," Professor Wilson said.
"The case has gone well beyond the Stafford case now and well beyond the issue of Stafford himself."
But Professor Wilson said he thought any such inquiry was unlikely to get off the ground.
"I don't think they want it. Governments don't like these investigations and I would have to say I'm appalled that the opposition haven't said anything about this," he said.
"They say they're concerned about justice, but why have they not gotten involved in asking the tough questions of the government in this case?
"The case is not going to go away - that is apparent - it's not going to disappear. It hasn't done for 15 years and it's not going to go away now.""
The story can be found at:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/revelations-may-help-stafford-compo-bid-20100427-tpuu.html
Harold Levy...hlevy15@gmail.com;
